A Post-Blizzard Update - Further Flurries Expected!

Yes, it's true - we actually had SNOW in Atlanta - and not just a dusting, but actually about 3" up at our house! And it came down fast - see my video of it here. And yes, I took video of it - because it doesn't snow like that here. I also took a video of the Dumb Dog outside in it - his first snow :) Excuse the audio on that one - I wasn't out there in it, and the tv was blasting away as always...

I knew weather was coming - our first high school game is tomorrow - though I doubt I am going to go, since it is away and just a scrimmage. At least DH and Little Kid have a couple more weeks before their club ball starts - but at the rate we are getting precip, they are never going to get a practice in.
Yadda, yadda, yadda - on to the stitching :)
I took Kaleidoscope along with me to Tuesday's stitch in at the Stitch Store, and got two more blocks of it done:

I want to get this done soon, so I can start kitting up Starry Nights that Lori gave me when she finished it. I love the colors in this, and need to get a couple more of hers in the stash. Terrie at the Stitch Store also has Needle Delights' Sierra kitted up - if I had the $$$ sometime when she's having a sale, that might have to come home with me...
During the Opening Ceremonies Friday night and all day Saturday, while being blinded by the snow glare coming in the front windows, I worked on Lyne's wedding sampler; I finally got the first dove completed, as well as all the flowers & ribbon above it!! I can't believe how long that dove took to do - I thought for sure once I got to him, it'd be a breeze. Not so. One section I lost my place many times, and frogged, restitched, frogged, restitched - I finally gave up until I got the backstitching over to that point, so I then knew where I was. But he's done, and I think the other one will be a little easier.

And lastly, my main piece of the week was EGS again, and though I felt like I did a lot on it, it doesn't look like I did much. Though I did have to frog the bottom basin of the fountain that I had put in last time - I was down one row too far :( But that was just a few minutes to fix :) But I did fill in a heck of a lot of green, and some of the wisteria coming down the next column - you'd just have to see the last pic and this one side by side, up close, to notice most of it. man, I thought this fountain scene was going to be a breeze, too, except for the peacock. Maybe the border going fairly quickly lulled me into a false sense of security???


This week, back to Knotgarden and the Green Corner of Purgatory :) I also need to do a 3rd block on Carolyn's RR, so it can be ready to move on the first of March! I'm not going to the stitch in tomorrow, even if I don't go to the game - getting home after 10 just kills me the rest of the week, so I think, when I can, I need to limit myself to every other week. Summer will be better, when I have more energy - and don't have to get the eggheads up, which wears me out at the get-go. I can't make them understand that 1) I hate getting them up as much as they hate me getting them up, and 2) I don't want to get up, either, not at 6:00 every day. Come on May!

I am trying to keep up with the Olympics, though DH seems to have an issue with me watching the figure skating. Ummm, if I can watch hundreds of hours of soccer, then he can suffer through a little bit of Olympic ice skating. WTH? If they continue like last night, the good stuff will be on after I go to bed - I thought being on my continent this time would be an advantage, but so far, it isn't proving to be much of one. It was so sad to watch everything about the Georgian luger - just such a tragedy, and for what? I hope his family can find something positive to take away from it...

Well, that's the highlights for this week - happy stitching, everyone!

Another Monday Update

The Super Bowl is over, a new season of NASCAR has begun, and the weather BLOWS! It must be February :) But I'm not going to complain about the weather just yet - we don't have feet & feet of snow, so I'm good - though I really could use about a week of no rain! The old barometer head has been getting quite the workout the last few months - and frankly, it's tired.

Quick notes on last week tryouts - the Big Kid made his Varstiy team (not really much doubt there), but Little Kid did not make the cut for his middle school team - and we are completely stumped as to why, considering a few of the kids that did make it, who DH has been coaching for a few years now. It's actually stumped several of the parents. But, is it a political thing (DH's club team has played this coach's rec club team before, with LK, and it wasn't pretty for that other team), or did LK just not do something to his satisfaction? Oh well, he says he doesn't care - but I still want to know why. I'm guessing this coach has never actually played the game, he's the school's stuck-ee. Oh well, we'll try again next year. Idiots. But, at least LK won't be completely beat to death by the end of the season - those two years of middle school ball where they also play club ball at the same time are rough on them; Big Kid played 7 games in one week, it was awful. And took all summer to stop aching. Yeah, that's worth it... School ball is so crude, anyway - it's going to be hard enough to watch the high school games - playground rules are not entertaining, if you know what you are watching.

Anyway, on to the stitching - of which there isn't a lot. Between the weather doing a number on my head most of the week, and some serious fatigue (also weather-related, I'm guessing), I didn't have a normal stitching week. I stitched a little bit every day, I think, just not very long. So all my grand plans from last week for what I wanted to work on this week kind of went out the window - I only worked on MTM. No, really, it's the only thing I touched all week! I got 99% of that right-side town's middle building done - I still need to do the last 2 Jessicas when I get home today, before I put it up.
The backstitch detail on that green roof went better this time than it did the first time - I went across each row this time, then came back and did the top-to-bottom lines. But I did have a mild panic attack when I was working the black - the last color I put into that building; the first on in the top town had all those dense Rhodes stitches under the roof, but this side wasn't charted for them, and nothing in the notes telling me to do them that way (the top town was under my Q clamp, so I couldn't actually see it to pick up on that sooner). So I looked at the other two to go, and they aren't charted for the Rhodes, either. Now why is it only the top one? Is that one of those infamous mistakes of hers, or is it by design? Oh well, I'm certainly not ripping anything out and redoing it. It's just a bit odd - though it looks just fine. I may do the bottom one the same as the top one - or I may not. Depends on how much it bugs me between now & then. I looked at photos online of other WIPs, and I guess most of us stitched it as charted, from what I can see in gallery pics. Weird...

In other news, I didn't go to Tuesday's stitch-in, deciding rather to head to bed very early instead. But I did go to the Stitch Store for yesterday's Super Bowl sale. I took TTM with me, wanting to finally make a decision on fabric - which I didn't - and in the process, Terrie, the shop owner, said she was thinking about starting MTM, but she's a little scared of the specialty stitches. So I told her I'd bring mine to the stitch-in this week, if the weather and my head cooperate (more crap moving in tonight/tomorrow - again possible snow); really, I don't think there's anything in MTM that're really that difficult - the Queen stitches on Knotgarden were more problematic to me, since the schematic she includes for them doesn't fit the space to put them in - but I figured it out. So maybe I can nudge her over the edge :)

This week, after I get those two Jessicas done, I get out EGS again (it seems like I just worked on that), and see if maybe I can't do some of the things I planned to do last week - Lyne's sampler, and maybe Kaleidoscope. I may take one of those to the stitch-in tomorrow - or something else entirely. And since the weather has just been awful for so long now, I am really not believing that we haven't been out for a walk lately, and I haven't taken any pictures, really, since we got back from Florida. So here's one I took this weekend:

These aren't just dogs - they are the never-ending source of specialty fibers used in all of my work :)

That's the news - am waiting for the Olympic Opening Ceremonies on Friday - let's see if I get any stitches in that night! Happy stitching this week to everyone!

February 1st - An Update

Wow, here goes another year flying by already!! Weather-wise, I am not impressed by this year so far.The "big storm" came through Friday night, and fortunately, didn't do much at all here - some rain/sleet, and the very tops of the tallest tress had a thing coat of ice Saturday afternoon. But I hear north of us got quite a bit more snow & ice. I was actually surprised how much ice I saw southwest of me when I went to the store on Sunday - a few miles from the house, and every tree was coated - and I didn't have my camera with me :(

Middle school tryouts got canceled Friday, as the storm was moving in (not a big deal for us, but a couple of the schools in our county are waaayyyy out in the sticks, and far enough north that I suspect the might've gotten dumped on - though school is in session today, so still not a big deal, I assume). They resume today, and high school tryouts start today. It's going to be a tense couple of days around here (though they are both shoe-ins, so not really sure where the fear comes from, other than Little Kid hasn't done a school tryout before). In indoor soccer news, Big Kid made it to the semi-final round last Wednesday; I didn't see the games, as I was just too tired to go - been fighting off a cold for the last week, and think I have to now officially declare I have been defeated :(In other sporting news, Ms. Trish has been spreading the Olympic Spirit about; she sent out several RAKs with Olympic goodies in them!! I can't wait for the opening ceremony - I hope we don't have games that weekend, so I can stay up to watch them!

On to the stitching! My main project for the week was Lady & Unicorn, which, as usual, didn't get a whole lot of time; I think I only put in about 6 hours total for the week on it, which sadly, is only about 300-400 stitches. I just wasn't up to it a couple of nights, fighting off this cold and being fatigued. I did finally get into the groove last night, of course - right before I had to put it up for the week :( But hey, any progress is good progress, right?
I have moved the previous album down and made a new one for this year's progress, but I'll link the previous picture here, if you want to try to spot the difference :) And here is the current overall - from the scroll down, anyway.I also did another letter on my current RR, Carolyn's. I really like this color combination she picked out - this Weeks linen is such a nice color, lends itself well to so many things. It's basically a non-mottled Days Gone By, and you guys know how I love that fabric - only 1 completed BoInk and MTM & Celtic Banner WIPs on it :) Anyway, I got the letter "C" done - cows & chickens, how awesome are they?

I also did another motif on Mary Wigham - I've been itching to get to that carnation, so I could use my BeRedded :) Wow do I love this red from Vikki!! I steer clear of lipstick reds, so it's got to be deep to grab me - what do you think?


The green here is BeFrogged - the other green motif, there upper left, is BeLeaved. I love these colors - and I haven't even used but just a few so far!!! And I really will have to use more of this linen - I can't get over how nice it is, even the odd slub doesn't bother me like some others have in the past :) Of course, having a SHOP to look at stuff in now really helps...

And speaking of shops, at last week's Tuesday night stitch-in, and during lunch last week, I got great progress on Dream. In fact, it now is completely stitched, just waiting for beads, which I hope to get to today, if my head will quit thumping for a bit :)


I will start Imagine this week, on another Silkweaver solo. I'm liking these little spur-of-the-moment projects that become finishes :)

This week, back to Medieval Town, and hopefully getting the better part of the right-hand town done! I don't know if I'll go to this week's stitch-in or not - depends on how my head feels tomorrow after work. I would like to work on Lyne's sampler, and maybe Kaleidoscope over the weekend :) I am also planning to shop JJ's Super Bowl Sale this weekend, and have them order me the PTP Haunted for Sleepy Hollow :) Then I am done stashing for a while! Until next week, Happy Stitching, everyone!

13 Days - Let the Games Begin!!!

The Kid went out to get the mail today, in the sleet and crap, and came back in with 6 pounds of junque mail, and a little envelope all the way from the Great White North :) That Trish, who I was describing as a master enabler over in TheSamplerLife group just the other day, sent me something! I open it up, and inside is a card, wishing to share a little Olympic Spirit!


Inside, there were a skein of lovely HDF silk, in Old Maid of Liberty, a pack of Juicy Fruit gum, sponsoring the Canadian Team and complete with a little Maple Leaf stamped on each piece - and two Canadian quarters with Olympic events on them!!




Of course, I was trying to beat the 12 yo off the gum long enough to get the picture :)

Around our house, everyone's gearing up for this summer's World Cup in S. Africa; I'm looking forward to the Olympics more, especially as it's in my part of the world this time, so I might actually get to see some of it!!! I saw very little of the Athens or the Beijing Olympics, pretty much just daily recaps, since it all took place while I was asleep :) I'm ready for skating, and the ski jump, and the luge & bobsleds; I love hockey, but it's too hard to watch on tv, unless it's a really good game :) So thank you, Trish - I'm counting the days!! Good luck to all the teams and go for the GOLD in Vancouver!!

Another Monday Update

Hi, people! Here it is, the last Monday of January, already!!! Holy cow, where'd it go? Half frozen, and now under water, due to the rain we've gotten this weekend - wow am I ready for winter to go away (and yes I know I have less room for complaint than most of you - but I did move away from that white stuff on purpose :) )

Well, you've probably already seen my finish of my 2nd RR piece for '09 - that was really fun to finish up :) And just to be clear, the new shop is going to be a very bad influence, with those By the Bay charts coming home with me, after I just bought those others on Opening Day :) But after taking advantage of a 25% off entire purchase coupon for Michaels yesterday (for which I had to go out into the torrential downpour, and coming back on I-85, down to 40 mph with semis trying desperately not to slam into all the people slamming on their breaks in the nearly white-out conditions), I now have Murky Manor, Sleepy Hollow, and those By the Bay charts 99% kitted with floss :)


You'll notice the wrap-around receipt there - I really hate that store have to individually scan the skeins; I understand why they have to, but wow, you could wallpaper a room with one of my annual DMC buys - unless I go to HL, where they don't have scanners, so just need an accurate count. this is 135 skeins, and 1 ball of #12 perle - $30! NOW I ought to be done for a while, until I need fabric for these (need a PTP sale for both of the Glendon Place designs).
On to the actual stitching for the week :) This was Sampler Week, so my main focus, once I finished up that RR at Tuesday's stitch-in, was AD Samplar 4 Saisons. I was hoping to get Spring all done this time - but I didn't quite. I did get it really close, but also did more of the border, and got some of the tree branches going - trying to count to get the Spring leaves on was becoming a nightmare, so I figured I better get some branches in there before I made a horrible boo boo...
I only have a few motifs left in Spring, and then getting that section of tree done so I can get it's leaves done - we'll see how far I get next time :)

This weekend, my local stitching group met - we haven't since October, with the holidays screwing up our 4th Saturdays. I started a little project out of the Joan Elliott book Mel got me for Christmas - Dream. This is a quick little project, and I picked out a small solo I had for it. I have to get beads for it tomorrow at the shop - can you believe I don't have anything I like with it? The solo is 32ct, the design calls for magnificas, but I may go with petites if they fit better, though the magnificas are 12/0, so smaller than 11/0 delicas or regular seeds. We'll just have to see what I find to match :) And the left side of the D is missing because HL didn't have the only color I needed to buy - but it is in that pile from Michaels :)


Saturday, the 23rd, in memory of Lori (who's birthday was 11/23), I broke out Noah's Sub. I haven't worked on this since 2008!! Man, is that bad, or what? But it is my plan to work on this the 23rd of every month, and see if maybe it doesn't see some progress in this new decade :) I got some water in this time; the pink backstitch is kinda weird, but I guess it works okay - just not what I was expecting there.


I do wish that I had gotten a little meatier fabric for this; I love Vikki's linen (that she's not going to carry anymore :( ), but this solidly-stitched piece probably ought to have been on something with a bit more body to it. Oh well - as far as I'm concerned, I am past the point of no return, so onward ho!

This week, back to Lady & unicorn - which I took to my stitch group on Saturday, so they can get an appreciation for the true level of my illness :) I'll go to stitch-in tomorrow, and then we have Indoor soccer finals Wednesday, so those nights are out for L&U - hopefully I can still get some progress in the rest of the week. Outdoor starts in a couple of weeks, so I better enjoy this while I can! Happy stitching this week to everyone!!

I love my new LNS!

I've gone to 2 stitch ins already! How fun is that? And last night, there were 8 of us there, along with Terrie, and the kitties were also there! And, as if getting together with other stitchers wasn't enough, last Wednesday, I sent an e-mail, asking for a couple of the By The Bay charts (one of which was there, but I didn't see it in my effort to see everything, I guess), and when I got there last night, she had them already!!! How freakin' cool is that?


Okay, I am officially out of Christmas money :) Visit Terrie and Joey and Scooter at The Stitch Store!

Oh, and guess what else??? I finished off my 2nd RR for 2009 while I was there!!!! That was really fun to work on - I hope everyone who worked on those two designs enjoyed them as much as I did! Though, I do gotta say, doing the 4-sided stitch in white perle on white fabric - umm, headache :) Why was that any harder than the eyelet/Rhodes border? Dunno. But it came out AWESOME and I can't wait for Frames By Mail to have a sale on their metal frames, so I can get one to match the other RR (that needs to get into it's frame - maybe this weekend, if I can get the glass cut for it).


I now return you to your regularly scheduled whatever....

A Warmer January Update

Ahhh, back where we ought to be - 50's & 60's! That's why I live here, folks - supposed to be mild winters! Of course, now that I've typed that out loud, prepare for the ice storm that will probably hit. It'll get crappy again as soon as outdoor soccer starts in a few weeks....

Well, I had another busy stitch week - I started & finished a piece, and got my last RR back from Shawn. I worked on Lyne's piece at the LNS stitch-in Tuesday, worked on my new RR, Mary Wigham, and Knotgarden. I love January with little or no soccer!! Okay, first things first - Lyne's wedding sampler, updated:
If I go to the stitch-in tomorrow, too, I will take this along again, though it is a bit hard to work on for long without benefit of my floor stand. But I did get quite a few stitches in, even if you can't really tell where :)

I also did a couple more motifs on Mary Wigham - was going to work on this at the stitch-in, too, but we got to messing around on the computer, looking up blogs & whatnot, and then it was 10:00, and I told DH I would probably leave about 9:15 or so! But I did manage 2 more motifs during the week, one using a d-bag teal (kinda looks like Indigo Ocean) and BeLeaved - I love these Be colors!!


On Thursday, I started a freebie from By the Bay Needleart - I have really become quite obsessed with their designs lately, and actually have my LNS ordering in a couple of them for me. So I started the freebie on Thursday night, worked on it Friday night, too - and was compelled to finish it up Saturday :)


On Friday, I got my 2nd RR for last year back from Shawn - it has come out so pretty!!! And I get to do the last few bands!! I actually did 2/3 of one at lunch today :) :) Thank you all who worked on the two pieces I sent out last year - I need to get the first one stretched and in it's frame, and then get a matching frame for this 2nd one, as soon as I get it done :)

I then worked on my new RR, this time Carolyn's ABC Zoo Sampler from Blue Ribbon. This is such a neat design, and she picked such a pretty thread for it. She had the boxes for A & B done, and B was complete, so I did A, and got it done. That Alligator had a frog issue while I was working on the bumpy back, but I figured it out without too much pain - if I'd paid better attention at the beginning, I'd have kept the frogs at bay. Anyway, I got A done, and got a small start on the next box for C:

And lastly, I did actually work on my main piece for the week, Knotgarden. For some reason, this 3rd Giant Green Corner seems a LOT bigger than the other 2 did... I thought for sure I'd get into the garden bit, but maybe I was pushing my luck with all the other stuff I worked on all week :)

The overall to date is here.

And that's all I did last week :) This week is Sampler Week; AD Samplar 4 Saisons will get some time, and I'm hoping to do some more on 6 Bats, too; would like to finish that up so I can start concentrating on this year's Halloween projects :) I may work on my returned RR during lunch this week and see if I can't get that finished up, too. Who knows what all I'll work on? Until next week, Happy Stitching everyone!

When Worlds Collide - an RAK :)

Tracy was talking about pepper jelly on her blog one day, and that got Tina & I off onto our own tangent. I used to know a lady who made it every fall, but as I don't know where she is now, I haven't had any for a while - and it looks a little more labor-intensive to make than I'm willing to invest right now. So Tina told me she has some locally - and I googled the Southeast US stores I have access to, and no one in the greater Atlanta area seems to carry any. How can that be? Anyway, Tina said she'd pick some up, next time she was there.

While she was in Paris over the holidays, she saw one of the Cluny tapestries in Musee du Moyen Age, and there was a book there on them; she thought of me (and my insanity at working one of them from SQ), and sent that book along with the pepper jelly!


Not pictured - a jar of Red pepper jelly - it's already been opened and is in the fridge - only because I ran out of cream cheese already :(

I opened that box up, and pulled out the book - everyone in the house recognizes the picture on the cover, even if only vaguely. It's a very nice history of the tapestries, and the various theories surrounding the pieces - I can only imagine seeing them in person! Then I pulled out each jar of jelly and unwrapped them from their protective coverings - and I was met with questioning looks from a couple of kids (and at least one dog had her nose going). "What's that for?" "Ummm, you eat it, on crackers with cream cheese?" I know they go to public school, but jeez, JELLY is kinda self-explanatory, innit? They both backed away, looking at me like I was totally out of my tree. Though the Big one did come back out later and asked if he could taste it - then promptly spit the cracker I'd given him out into the trashcan!!!! WTF??? "Hey, don't waste that!" All of which means "IT'S ALL MINE!!!!!!" Though I think DH has eaten if before, too, but I think cream cheese creeps him out. Some people don't know what they're missing...

Thank you, Tina! I will enjoy both jelly & book, and try to keep one from the other :)

A Cold January Update

And I know cold here isn't cold like elsewhere, but after almost 16 years here, I am completely acclimatized, so all these days below freezing, I am COLD! After last week's snow "storm" (we got less than 1/2" from our house, to less further south), there are roads still closed all over, because it hasn't gotten warm enough to melt off (like it usually does), and my kids are out of school again today. This has been the coldest fall & winter since we've been here, and there's months to go still :( Time to move!! I wish :) AZ is looking better & better! But, I am thankful that we didn't lose power over any of it - this sustained cold here tends to make things break here, since we aren't equipped to deal with this for more than a few days (knocking furiously on wood). Here's the "storm" out my front door last Thursday - as of yesterday, that was all ice in the yard, hopefully melted & gone by the time I get home today, if we do indeed get over freezing as predicted.


Onto the stitching! You've seen my new LNS pictures by now, I'm sure. I hope to go to this week's stitch in tomorrow - depends on how tired I am after work tomorrow (this cold is taking it out of me more than usual). I am really looking forward to visiting that store often. It's by no means one-stop shopping for me, with a lack of Carrie's and a lot of European charts like Long Dogs, but the other fibers and fabrics, and the charts they do have are pretty great - and who knows what I can talk them into carrying? LOL

SINCE I found a piece of fabric for Mary Wigham while I was there, and because there seems to be this rash of startitis going around (Jodie VBI), I caved and began Mary Wigham :) I told you before it was screaming at me; well, the only way to stifle it was to start it. And since it's being done over-1, it ought to be quick, huh? Yeah, that's what I said about that littlest Foursome Reel, huh? Oh well, so far, so good:

I am just randomly choosing HDF silks as I go, though I do know the carnation will be done in green & red. All of those Be's I got in the fall, and a few more that I ordered last week, will be in this, as well as some Mystery Spools, Detritus, and whatever else feels the need to make an appearance :) I really, really like this French Country linen - it's so easy to work on, even with the odd slub here & there. I think in the picture you can see how distinct the holes are in this 32ct - this is easier than some of the 28ct I've worked over-1. Might have to invest in more of this for future samplers :)

Other than that, I got back to my regular rotation, and did a good bit on the fountain scene in EGS. I could actually keep working on this, since I finally got back in the groove on it (I just wasn't in the mood for it the last couple of times it's been up) - but I really want to work on Knotgarden tonight, too, so time to rotate! I am debating on modifying the peacock tail colors - the symbols using the BF look off to me, but I will have to wait until I get the other symbols stitched to make a final verdict - and I left the black thread in with the actual filament, and I might need to redo just that. We'll see next time - unless I avoid that area and keep going along the top part...


And that's all I worked on last week! I'm still just reading at lunch - plowing through book 3 of the Outlander series now, I think for the 3rd or 4th time now. Somehow, I see me reading them all through again - I can't put them down! I also picked up copies of The Fountainhead & Atlas Shrugged at Borders yesterday - a couple more gaps to be filled in my classics reading. Only because they didn't have the trade paperback version of Rutherfurd's Russka in stock - it's the only non-current of his I haven't read yet.

As I mentioned above, back to Knotgarden tonight. Today is our anniversary, but we are going to wait and do dinner on Friday, so we don't have to jam it in before rushing home to go to bed to get up to go to work - and it's supposed to be warmer by then :) I should have my new RR arrive this week, to, so maybe some work on that, too! And you know me - who knows what else will go on? LOL Until next week, happy stitching (and reading) everyone!!

The First Update of the New Decade

I'll try to do a little catching up here, since I missed a week or two :) You've seen my recap of 2009 already. We survived Christmas and the trip to Cocoa, and I had a great time at Kennedy.


The week of Christmas, since my schedule was all screwed up with getting ready for Florida, I decided to not bother with my rotation for the week,and just work on stuff that doesn't get much time. So for the few days before we left, I worked on Celtic Banner :) I love this piece - it really deserves more time.

The whole time we were in FL, I was only able to get in about 40 stitches - and I didn't crack my book open but for a few minutes, either. I put the only stitches into Lyne's wedding sampler - barely enough to even notice, but hey, it's all I did for 7 days, so I need to write it down.

One day of the week of Christmas, I got out my RM RR and got the top blue flower added to the stalk I started. That's all I'm doing on it :) It is packed up and ready to go to the PO, either today or tomorrow. I hope everyone likes working on it!

I also threw some beads in with it, in case anyone would rather bead than French Knot - entirely up to whoever has those sections :)

I didn't pick up a needle again until New Year's Night, and since again the week was hosed, didn't bother with rotation, but again worked on a couple of pieces that don't get enough time :) Friday night & Saturday afternoon, I worked on Chat Noir - I was thinking about Booger, and Lori, and thought it was time to put some more stitches in. Lotsa orange, and some black - it's hard to tell, but I added a few hundred stitches, mostly on Page 2.

And then, Saturday night and yesterday, I worked on World Tree. I really, really wish I had more time on this one, too - it was hard to get going on it this time, I guess my eyes were too tired for the over-1. But I did get to a big section of black, after confetti-ing myself to death - and left lots of confetti around the black for later.



This week, back to the normal routine, whatever that is. I should get out EGS tonight, but I might work on my current RR piece instead - Lyne sent her choice early, to get it off her To DO list around Christmas. I looked at it when it got here, but haven't touched it since. That'll be a nice way to ease back into the routine. Right now, though, I am off to the new LNS opening today!! The Stitch Store used to be The Dogwood Patch, before Terrie decided to move - and now I have to pass the place on my way to and from work! This is going to be dangerous! AND she's about 500 yards from where my DH works now (they moved over the summer) - so shopping for me just became infinitely easier :) We do have an anniversary next week Happy stitching this week to everyone - and here's hoping 2010 is a great year for needleworks!!!!

2009 in Review

Well, where to begin? At the beginning is too simple - too many things running in parallel.It has been a year of starts and stops, losses and gains, achievements and disappointments; it's been a long year, and at the same time, amazingly quick.

I guess I just have to break it down into manageable bits - trying to remember way back to January... For family & friends, we saw family this year, when we trekked to Kentucky for Memorial Day and the big Criner Family party, and saw my family the following day. Then the boys & I headed to N. Carolina during the summer, while the Big Kid played on his Super Y league. And just this past week, the boys & I again headed out, due to yet more soccer, to Florida, where the boys got to see their grandma for the first time in several years - they were little kids the last time she saw them!

I lost my constant companion of 20 years this year; Booger entered my life in Clovis, NM, in 1989, and traveled the road with me from there, to Box Elder, SD, to Ohio (3 different places), and then finally here to N. Georgia. Deciding it was time to put him to rest was the hardest thing I have ever done. But in hindsight, I probably should have done it sooner - I just couldn't. Not long after that, we lost Zeke, too. Considering he had cheated death when he was a kitten - and probably numerous times after - we were surprised when he really started to go downhill this year. Beanie became the sole survivor - and damn proud of it. But then we added another ingredient to the mix that is our house - the New Dog. It took us 6 months to figure out his name, but now that we have, he is called DumbChuck :) Because you can never have enough chaos in your house, you know. Or never enough animal smells, apparently....

We played a LOT of soccer, I had a temporary break with sanity and volunteered to manage the Big Kid's team (which was such a huge PITA - you have to remind me of it next year), and I took a helluva lot of pictures this year! You might've seen a couple of them :) Work was work, every single day, and trying to stay afloat was even more work.But we made it through, relatively unscathed, and had a good Christmas AND pulled off the Florida trip without too many bumps along the way....

The needlework community lost a bright, shiny star this year when Marc Davis of Needlemania passed away completely unexpectedly. We had been waiting to hear the news about his partner - and got it concerning Marc instead. Poor George - I hope he is doing well, though I know their poodles, the Girls, had to find new homes, as George is permanently a nursing home resident now.

Much closer to home, and just such an incredible loss, was my friend Lori Mihalko, just last week. It is still unreal to me; I am so deeply saddened, and my heart goes out to those adorable girls, and to her husband. I am very thankful that I had the opportunity to know her as long as I did; she was an amazing person, and if I could be half as strong as she was, and inspire even one person the way Lori inspired so many others, then I would live a fulfilling life. I will miss her.

I had an amazing year in needlework - none of the stellar finishes of last year, like two TWs in one year - that will be hard to top. But some great finishes nonetheless - BoInk, which really is one of the neatest ideas I have ever seen, and a true joy to work on (except maybe that never ending border :) ); not one, but two Long Dog pieces from Foursome Reel, one of them over-1 on 36ct; a small TW, Medieval Miniature; my very first Chatelaine finish, albeit a small one - MMM03, the companion to MTM. And lots of other things here & there. I framed several pieces, and I made my first biscornu and pinkeeps - I didn't get to a mailart this year, but hope to this coming year. I also participated in my first ever Round Robin, which we have all agreed was a resounding success, and plan to be part of one for the new year, as well :) And then there was Boo! Club, which I was compelled to do; there was a minor snafu with the fabric, which I chose to live with, in my impatience to get started, but all in all, it came out wonderfully, and is in the next To Be Framed pile :)

I had several great starts, as well. I started Medieval Town Mandala on January 1st, and have to say that it is my favoritest project to date :) I also started Chat Noir, in tribute to my old cat, and Celtic Banner, which is one of the first designs that really grabbed me when I first saw it on that new Internet thing years ago. I did something I've never done before, and restarted a project - AD's Samplar 4 Saisons; I really hated the fabric I had it on, so I got new, better fabric, and started over, and now it's in the rotation :)

Other things just kept clicking along. TW's English Garden Sampler saw some sporadic progress, and I finally reached the huge milestone of finishing the top row of pages on SQ Lady & Unicorn. I am moving towards the end (i.e. over half-way) on Knotgarden, and am making small but steady progress on a piece I am finishing for Lyne. And other things really wanted my attention, but I just haven't had nearly the time I would like on them - Tanglewood, World Tree, Noah's Sub, Marquoir Ancient Vert et Mauve. I have another Halloween piece that is close to finishing, so I can get next year's two Halloween projects going next summer/fall, with a clear conscience :) You know, if work and all this soccer stuff would just stop intruding on my time, I could get so much more done! I've already mostly cut housework out of the equation, since it's pretty pointless around here....

It's been a crazy-busy year. I can't remember the last time I was this tired. But I do have some things to show for it, so maybe all the work and running around and everything will be of benefit later :) For all the hard times I've had this year, I've had as many, or more, equally great times - I guess you can't ask for more than that. I've had a great time with my kids this year, in between wanting to throttle them, and cherish my friendships even more than I did a few weeks ago. Here's hoping 2010, the beginning of a new decade, is better than 2009, and maybe a bit less chaotic? Less brain-draining maybe? Just a little quieter maybe. Less miles driven would be great :) I wish everyone peace and happiness in the New Year, and I look forward to what this year will bring! I am going to ring the new year in on Beach Time, myself....

December 21st - an Update

How did it get here so fast? It seems like it was just October the other day... Well, I'm as close to done with Christmas shopping as I'm going to get, and only have a handful of things left to wrap (I assume the boys will be snooping for those today - if they get out of bed in time). I have the last team parent meeting tonight, before we leave for the tournament Saturday morning - sure hope some of these folks give me some money today to cover the boys' stay. NOT looking forward to the drive, but AM looking forward to the beach, even if it's cold. I will also be going to Kennedy Space Center - I've never been there - so expect lots of pictures of that when I get back (esp. if DH gets that bigger memory card for me). We have all early games, so plenty of time to do touristy stuff, as the cash allows. Might be a few soccer pictures, too :)

On to the stitching, of which there isn't a whole lot, again, all things considered. I got a start on my new RR piece, Rosewood Manor's Live Each Season - looking at it, it's not a very big piece - it covers a lot of material, but it's not a lot of stitching (IMO), so I'm guessing if Nancy gets this one early on, she'll probably have it done - and then I'll have to come up with something else :) HaED World Tree maybe? Anyway, I'm doing the center motif again, and that will allow those to come to pick where they want to go. I also want to find some beads that can be used in place of French knots, entirely up to the stitcher who gets to that section...


I haven't decided if I'm taking this to FL or not, or what I am taking if not this - I might take either Lyne's RR or her wedding sampler; I think I can handle either one of those, if I ma able to stitch at all while there. I am not taking my floor stand (where would I put it, even broken down flat?), so I don't know how coordinated I'll be....

My main piece for the week was again MTM, and I got 1/3 of Part 7 done! I only worked on it 5 nights, I think - I was in bed by 6:30 one night, and just busy doing stuff other days/nights. Here's the overall:


And then the detail of the area I worked:


This week, I'm supposed to get EGS out again, but since it's a busy, and short, week, I may just work on some of the things that never get any attention - World Tree, Celtic Banner, Noah's Sub? I don't know. Maybe just whatever grabs me each day. Wednesday afternoon & Thursday, I'll be doing some cooking & baking - not having a huge meal for Christmas dinner, since only DH & the dogs will be around to eat leftovers - and DH doesn't eat leftovers more than once - we'll see if he can survive a week on cookies and the smallest big ham I could find.... Whatever day I get back from FL, I have putting the Christmas stuff up to look forward to :( I may be back on the 31st - I won't know until the 29th whether they move on to the final round on the 30th. So who knows when I'll be back online? At least I have a LNS opening up on January 4th - and have that day off of work, too, especially for that!

If I don't talk to you before, everyone have a safe & happy Christmas!! And New Year's, too, if I'm not back then, either!

A Mid-December Update

Well, I don't know about you guys, but I have been SLAMMED! Between Christmas stuff, work stuff, and soccer stuff, I'm going to need a month off to recoup from December. But I am 99.8% done with shopping - haven't wrapped a thing yet - and soccer is just going to have to sort itself out; one more "I'm too busy to answer your e-mail" e-mail, and I'm going to wash my hands of the whole thing...

Anyway, on to the stitching stuff :) Shawn had Lyne send her 2nd RR here while she was finishing up her move from SC to TX, so while it was here, I was compelled to put a little bit of work into it :) I didn't do a lot, but it's pretty darn close to being finished, so Shawn won't have that much to do. What a great design - I don't have any Drawn Thread charts, so it was nice to have an opportunity to see one - and I told Shawn if it needs a good home when she's done, I can probably find one for it :)


I did that upper left corner - the tree, the bird, the B, and the bunny. The red bits (apples? flowers?) on the tree are spider web roses, and just like Lazy Daisies, it took me all of them to get my tension the same on 2 of them. I love that stitch, but I think it just works better for ribbon embroidery, where you can actually see the effect; in this small scale, it just kind of looks like a knot :) At any rate, this really is a beautiful design, and I was glad I got a chance to see it in it's brief layover :)

Other than that, the only thing I worked on was Lady & Unicorn, and that, only 4 nights this week. The left edge of this thing is confetti hell all the way down - if I can just start working right again, I'll get to areas of faster progress. I got several hundred stitches in over the week, but they are so scattered, it is hard to really see them - so I included a shot with the chart, with this week's progress in the orange highlighter:

And then a picture without, just for grins:

Not a huge amount of progress, but considering L&U usually gets skipped every December entirely, while I'm losing my mind doing other things, this is better than usual :)

This week, I will work on MTM, and I also need to get my next RR piece started; I'm sending round RM's Live Each Season - but I can't decide where to start it. Guess I better get the decision made, since I'm losing a week of stitching to the tourney in FL. I imagine I'll take something with me, but nothing big or complicated - other than what I'm taking to show my mom for WIPs, MTM being one of them :)

Well, that's the news - the boys & I are off for teeth cleaning in a few minutes, which was a good reason to leave work early!! Happy Stitching to everyone, and if I don't talk to you before then, have a great Christmas - I should be back online by New Years....

Remember Pearl Harbor

December 7th, 1941

Slow Down - I'm Not Ready!! - An Update

How's it the 7th of December already? Normally I am way done with shopping by now, and this year, haven't even much begun, what with having a tournament this weekend, when we had snow flurries and freezing temps, I might add. I have so much to do, no time, and I don't feel like doing any of it. I don't think I'm going to do cards this year - I have to cut something out, and since I haven't even bought any yet (looked yesterday, didn't like any of them), maybe that's one of the easier to let go. It's not even my usual Bah Humbug-ness - I just don't feel like doing Christmas anything. I have to get to that stupid tournament on the 26th, and get back, in one piece. It's a long drive for what I expect to turn out to be a lot of nothing... :(


On to the stitching, of which there's not a lot. My main focus this week was AD Samplar 4 Saisons. I am pretty close to having Spring done!!! If I have a good week next rotation, I ought to finish it, and either move on to the tree, or Summer. I am ready to see other colors on it, though I did get some of the Wattle N Daub border put back on, so I can see how that works - it's the color the tree will be, too - I just have to decide how to physically work the tree - across, or up & down? I'm kind of thinking up & down will make the color changes look like bark, more than stripes across. Hmmmm.... Anyway, here's where I left it last night:

Other than that, the only other thing I worked on was Anita's RR, which I kept an extra week, so I could keep working on it a bit more :) I got a few more motifs done, and got one of 2 colors done in another large one, and decided I had better stop and get it on its way home - this is the overall:

And then an off-angle shot of the area I worked this past week:
Like I said, it's a bad angle, but I had to lay this on my bed to get a pic of it, because it's so big - and the light's not too good back there, so I was trying to get the best light AND keep my shadow off of it - which only worked from the side, I guess (no, it didn't occur to me to turn it - it was late). Thank you, Anita, for letting me work on this - I love this design, especially in these colors!

This week, I HAVE to do some shopping, I have to bake a cake for Thursday's company Holiday Lunch, and get a gift ready to go. BUT soccer is over until 12/26 - Big Kid is playing indoor, but I can miss those games, they are just for fun & to keep touches on the ball. SO hopefully I will be able to get a little time in on Lady & Unicorn this week; I know it won't be much, but anything helps! Until next week, Happy Stitching everyone, and I hope everyone has a lot more shopping done than I do!